[ARCHIVE] neoBrainformation

Our resident Registered Nurse, brandtrn, will answer any specific health care related questions on a time available basis.

Forum rulesSad but true, there must be a disclaimer!!! Remember that I am a NURSE, not a doctor. I know a lot, but certainly don't know everything. If you have a health problem or concern, I'll do what I can to help, but please keep the following in mind: any information that I may give you is not intended as "medical" advice, nor is it intended to serve as a substitute for a consultation with your primary care physician. ~ Cindy

Sorry, folks...this is a personal rant which has has been cross-posted to my Neo-BF journal, but I'm wanting to post it here, too, because I'm SOOOO frustrated! Those of you who aren't into "work rants" would do well to surf on at this moment...

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WELL! I had several hours' worth of seriously wasted time today. Our administrator had been shitting his pants (practically) ever since he got a call from a certain Congressman's office yesterday, informing him of the fact that said Congressman would be visiting our Facility today. I showed up extra-early today (as did ALL of the management staff) in order to get things ship-shape for said Congressman's visit today. And yes, I DID kick some serious ass, in order to make things look good for the aforementioned visit, and my unit staff kicked some extra-serious ass in order to make it all happen. However, I must admit that, when all was said and done, I rather regretted having followed Administration's orders and having had things looking so good...after all, the Congressman in question is a firm supporter of the "Obamacare" bill, and I honestly thought that it wouldn't hurt this idiot to see what hoops we REALLY jump through on a day-to-day basis in order to provide decent patient care in such an under-staffed Facility! Unfortunately, I was under firm orders to make us look good (I suppose for PR purposes), and, in order to keep my job, I made it happen...and, unfortunately, it appears that I did my job TOO well. Not only did the tour go without incident of ANY kind, but the promised "Q & A session" which was promised to us by the Congressman's aides DIDN'T happen, because the dude was, apparently, just too, too busy to accommodate us! So the tour went exactly as I hoped it WOULDN'T...not only without incident, but also without having the opportunity to inform this back-slapping, glad-handing political idiot about the acuity of residents admitted from the hospital into our Facility. For the good Lord's sake, on MY unit alone, we have a patient in end-stage renal failure who is receiving CCPD (continuous cycling peritoneal dialysis) administered by our nursing staff, TWO patients with Stage IV decubitus ulcers who have osteomyelitis as a result and are receiving IV antibiotics, another patient who is suffering from diabetes insipidus and who is suffering from dehydration as a result of this...and we haven't even BEGUN to discuss the patients on my unit suffering from traumatic and/or anoxic brain injuries who are turning my so-called sub-acute unit into what is, for all practical purposes, a gero-psych unit, because of all the behaviors we have to deal with!! And that's just MY unit...we won't even TRY to go into what's going on on the other units in my Facility, because my brain is just too fried to even think about it!!

Nevertheless, this dude showed up, in response to a letter he received from our administrator, urging him NOT to vote for the "Obamacare" bill, because of our administrator's fears that such a bill, if passed, would put us out of business, because of the cuts that would be made as a result...not only was this guy far too "busy," after his tour, to meet with key staff (myself included) and listen to our concerns, but all he wanted to do was take a brief tour throughout our Facility, give a speech to our residents (i.e., his constituents), telling them how awesome the *f&%$g* "Obamacare" bill is, and how it WOULDN'T affect Medicare (BIG lie, that! Supposedly, we're going to be making BIG Medicare cuts in order to be able to PAY for this plan!), shake hands with everybody, and head on out of there, WITHOUT bothering to listen to issues affecting long-term care facilities in the state of Indiana. As I said previously, he's shown himself to be nothing more than a back-slapping, glad-handing government parasite who obviously cares nothing for the REAL issues faced by those of us who are trying to provide decent health care for the elderly within the miniscule dollar amount allocated to us by Medicare/Medicaid, etc. No wonder I HATE politicians! Always have, always will...was I surprised that this Congressman so completely blew off our concerns? Indeed, not -- but what DID surprise me was the ass-kissing response of the majority of our administrative staff! Because the tour went well, and because the Congressman was so impressed with what he saw, they were HAPPY -- never mind the fact that the bastard couldn't bother to set aside the time to discuss their concerns, which, supposedly, was the whole point of his visit to us! As far as I can see, this whole visit DEFEATED the purpose of our administrator's letter to him in the first place...because we made absolutely certain (by administration orders) that things looked absolutely perfect, there's no WAY that that glad-handing sack of shit could have possibly seen how hard we work (as though he would have cared, anyway), on a daily basis, in order to care for our residents properly. What a supreme waste of time that was, in my opinion! It was nothing more, and nothing less than a supremely staged piece of theatre, which we will have to repeat in a very short period of time, since we're expecting State surveyors in our Facility at any time...what fun is in store for us, right??!!??

But it seems that we are, very quickly, entering into the age of "Obamacare" (i.e., socialized medicine). What fun! Undoubtedly, this thing will pass, and make ALL of us in the health care industry nothing more than government minions of the lowest order. Hey, if I'd REALLY wanted to be a government employee, I'd have studied poly-sci at the university rather than nursing, and, most likely, would have become an attorney (Heaven knows, I'm far more intelligent than MANY of them!)...Heaven help us, but CANADIAN nurses are leaving their country in droves, simply because THEIR government-funded healthcare system doesn't allow nurses to be paid decently -- that's why they're coming HERE to work! All we need is some OTHER dumb-ass government minion to decide that WE (i.e., US nurses) make too much money, too...Lord knows, they have no CLUE how hard we work!! Unfortunately, it appears that Obamacare is on the horizon, and it also appears that THIS nurse needs to find some other profession, before it's far too late for me to do so. There's no WAY I'm going to be willing to bust my ass the way I do for what Canadian nurses (and others) are making! #@$% 'em all -- and let's see how well they do with health care in this nation if OTHER nurses share my thoughts on this...